How to travel on the cheap: Tips for South East Asia, India, Europe and South America.

New Zealand money

 It’s a massive shock to go to the grocery store in Auckland, buy a few snack items and it ends up costing $50. One reason why people don’t travel is because of the cost, but here in New Zealand (especially Auckland) is one of the most expensive places in the world to live day to day.    

Nick and I saved a ridiculously small amount for nine and a half months of travel. We went mainly to developing countries which I found far more interesting and insightful, and spent far less than what we would in regular life. I’ll let you in on my tips on how to travel on the cheap.

SOUTH EAST ASIA

The power of two

 

Accommodation will be much cheaper in South East Asia if you are travelling in a pair

Logically you would think that staying in a smelly sweaty dorm room would be the cheapest way to go. Dorm life includes listening to nightmarish snoring, smelling the odours of feet, stale alcohol and cigarettes, as well as being forced to listen to the occasional romp between the sheets. Price should reflect the trauma caused by this experience but we found it to be the more expensive option for two people in South East Asia.

Hotels and guesthouses were cheaper not to mention much more pleasant. It’s because hostels are priced per person whereas in hotels and guesthouses, the cost is per room. We found the cheapest way to go was to head to a cluster of accommodation (we usually found this info in the Lonely Planet) and then wander the streets enquiring about prices, going to 3 or 4 guesthouses before deciding. Sometimes we found guesthouses with a swimming pool plus breakfast for $10NZD per night, $5 each.  

Agoda, a hotel bookings website, was also great for finding some cheap deals if you are not so comfortable winging it on arrival. 

Refill water stations

Refill water station in Cambodia - they are everywhere in Thailand also.

Not only can you keep your environmental conscience in check by refilling your plastic bottles at these stations, it is also a lot cheaper than buying a new bottle each time. Look out for these around South East Asia. However if I was going to this trip again, I would buy a steriPEN or something similar to sterilise tap water making it safe to drink. It means no plastic bottles, and it would be cheaper in the long run.   

Also check whether tap water is safe to drink – it was in Singapore.  

INDIA

Booking the train

 

Expect to feel like a minor celebrity in India and be prepared for lots of photos, even after 32 hours on a train with minimal sleep.

Train travel in India is a unique experience and a great introduction to Indian hospitality. I can’t recommend it enough but don’t fall into the pitfalls that we did. We made the mistake of booking a train through a travel agent. Don’t do this. The ticket will be at least three times more expensive (which to be fair, is still cheap by New Zealand standards). Instead try and do it online. However wifi is sometimes hard to come by in India - we ended up buying an Indian sim card so we could access the net through mobile data.

If you can’t access the internet, go to the train station directly, but try and book your train as much in advance as possible. The trains move millions of people per day which means they full up, fast. Usually a few days before hand should be fine, but being flexible in India will greatly contribute to your enjoyment of the place.

We used this website to book trains: http://www.cleartrip.com/trains but there are others around.

Another useful thing to know is that there are a number of tickets available only for tourists. More info here.

     

EUROPE

Airbnb

Prices were a huge shock to us after Asia and India but we found the best deals for accommodation, taking into account quality versus price, were on Airbnb. It’s a website where people rent out a spare room, an apartment, or house to travellers. Check the references and use judgement, but we found this to be a much better deal than hostels and hotels, and a very comfortable way to stay.

SOUTH AMERICA

Don’t pre-book activities

Organising things from your home country is a bad idea if you are on a budget. It is much cheaper to book things through travel agencies in South America. Most agencies have a basic understanding of English and it’s quite easy to do. Even booking through your hostel or hostel is likely to be cheaper than trying to organise things from home. The only time I would recommend booking in advance is if you are hell bent on doing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, but even then, try find an agency based in Peru. Not only is it cheaper but it’s more ethical, in my humble opinion, for your tourist dollar to go to locals in the country you are in. 

  

Set lunch menus

Los menus del dias are great. Expect a three course meal for about $3NZD that fills you to the brim. Typically it will include a soup with a main course of rice, salad and a huge chunk of mystery meat, a desert, a hot drink or a soft drink. The quality of the menu varies wildly – sometimes great, sometimes not, and the price is not necessarily an indicator of quality. Because these lunches were so large, we had small dinners in the evenings which made eating super cheap.

 

Machu Picchu

At the top of Huayna Picchu overlooking Machu Picchu

Here is the cheapest way to do Machu Picchu that we could find:

Buy your ticket for Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu in Cusco at the government tourist office (not an agency) a bit out of town - the information centre can direct you. Go to an agency and book a return bus from Cusco to Hidroelectrica (about 6 hours), then walk along the train tracks to Aguas Caliente (about 2 hours). Stay the night, and then walk to Machu Picchu (about 2 and a half hours). Then repeat in reverse to get back to Cusco  

The more expensive options of catching the train or hiking there might be more of an experience but we didn’t feel like we missed out. We still had an amazing experience and the scenery along the walks was spectacular.    

General:

Couch surfing

This website is a bit clunky to use, and it is extremely hard to search for people, but it’s a way for travellers to sleep on couches and meet locals for free, so can’t complain too much.

Sleeping in airports

This website outlines which is the best and the worst airport to rest your tired gypsy bones in.